No Matter What It Takes
by crazy-wild-and-free
Summary: Elijah shows up at the safe house dying from Marcel's bite. Hayley refuses to accept his fate and will do anything she has to do to keep him alive. Even if what she has to do is something that will figuratively kill her to do so. {Hayley/Elijah}
_**This OS is sort of based off of an anon request I got on Tumblr. I mixed the request with an idea that I was already planning on writing out. This one-shot can be seen and read as the sequel to I Can't Lose You. If you haven't already read it yet be sure to check out I Can't Lose You and let me know what you think. I'd be forever grateful!**_

 _ **The anon request was;** Can you write a haylijah one shot where elijah is bitten by marcel (as in the promo) and hayley is playing nursemaid for him?_

 _ **I hope you all enjoy reading this!**_

 _ **Disclaimer:** _I don't own anything associated with The Originals...I just like to play around with the characters. I only own the plot.__

* * *

 _Elijah shows up at the safe house dying from Marcel's bite. Hayley refuses to accept his fate and will do anything she has to do to keep him alive. Even if what she has to do is something that will figuratively kill her to do so._

* * *

The compound had been taken over by all of Klaus' old enemies, which lead to Elijah fleeing with Hayley and Hope to one of their safe houses near by. After making sure that Hayley and Hope were settled in, as much as they could be settled in, Elijah assured Hayley he'd call her at a certain time and then left to return to the compound despite Hayley's desperate pleas for him to reconsider. Hayley couldn't blame him for leaving still, he was all about loyalty and that meant standing by his siblings in times of absolute chaos and danger.

Hayley started to get worried when she didn't hear from Elijah half an hour before the time he told her. By the time he said he'd call to check in, she was damn near pacing a hole into the floor. He always called either early or on time, never late. She could feel it in her gut that something was wrong, so very wrong.

"Please be okay," Hayley said out loud to the air around her. "Please, I beg of you God to let him be okay."

She abruptly stopped pacing when she heard the door open and turned to face it. The sight before her stole a strangled gasp from her. Her hand flew up to her mouth to muffle the inhumane sounds that followed her gasp while tears instantly filled her eyes and streamed down her face. This was her worst nightmare coming true right in front of her.

Hayley was never more thankful than in that moment that she'd just put Hope down for her nap. She was sure she wouldn't have been able to handle her cranky, tired daughter and a dying Elijah at once.

"Oh my god! Elijah!" She exclaimed, rushing over to him despite her tears clouding her vision. "I was afraid that this would happen!"

Hayley quickly lead Elijah over to the couch and gently placed him down onto it. He winced in pain, the venom of Marcel's bite coursing throughout his veins.

"How long ago did he bite you?" Hayley asked, her voice breaking almost making it impossible to get the words out.

Elijah shook his head slowly barely being able to will himself to move.

"Okay, you know what...that doesn't really matter. We don't have time to do math. We have to do something to slow the spreading of the venom to give us more time to figure something out," Hayley said frantically, rambling on due to her mind being filled with so many different thoughts.

"Hayley," Elijah said quietly. "There's nothing we can do at this point."

Hayley frowned, kneeling down next to him. "Don't you dare talk like that in front me, Elijah Mikaelson!" She scolded him, shaking her head in disappointment. "It's not over until you're no longer breathing, and right now you are still breathing."

"I had to see you one last time," Elijah told her. "I told you I would come back to you one way or another."

Hayley huffed, wiping at her tear stained cheeks and eyes. "Not like this!" she exclaimed, trying to think of what to do in the midst of her confused and crowded brain. "Ice!"

Before Elijah could even ask her what she meant, Hayley jumped up and ran towards the kitchen in search of the biggest container she could find. Her idea probably wasn't the most effective, but damn it she was going to try anything that could possibly give her more time to come up with a better solution to keeping Elijah alive until she could maybe figure out something to save him.. Hayley knew it was probably pointless to even try anything at all, but she wasn't going to give up. She loved Elijah and that was why she couldn't just give up and accept his fate without trying to alter it somehow first.

"What are you doing?" Elijah asked, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"Ice helps to slow down the poison or venom, whatever it is, from spreading too quickly," Hayley answered still looking around the kitchen, cabinet doors slamming shut left and right...it was a good thing that Hope was a hard sleeper.

"I don't think there's enough ice in this apartment to help with this," Elijah mused, crying out in pain as he shifted slightly in the wrong direction.

Hayley gasped at the sound of his cry, fresh tears pouring from her eyes again. "There's an ice machine in the hallway. I heard it being filled earlier today. I'll take it all if I have to," she told him, her eyes finally landing on the trash can. "That'll do."

Grabbing the trash can, Hayley was thankful that it was empty. She made her way back into the living room and had to bite her tongue as to not cry out at the sight of Elijah. He looked so sickly, like he was dying...which unfortunately he was.

"I am going to get all the ice that I can so we can slow down the poisoning," Hayley told him. "And then we are going to figure out some way to keep you from dying."

"Hayley," Elijah started to protest, grateful she was trying to help but also knowing that there really wasn't much that she could truly do.

Hayley stopped him before he could say anything else. "There is always a way," she informed him. "We will figure it out because you are not dying on my watch."

Elijah didn't try to protest her actions again. He was aware of how stubborn she could be. Therefore, any attempts to convince her not to do what she had set out to do were null and void.

"I'll be quick," Hayley assured him, practically running out the door.

 **~NoMatterWhatItTakes~**

Hayley returned minutes later with a trash can full of ice. She hadn't been joking when she said she'd take all the ice if she had to. Placing the trash can down on the floor carefully, Hayley made her way over to the couch where Elijah was.

"We need to get you to the bathtub," she told him, leaning down so he could get his arm around her neck and she could get her arms around his waist. "On the count of three, you push off and I'll lift you."

"I'll try," Elijah replied, the tone of his voice giving away the fact that he was slowly giving up.

Hayley sighed, refusing to just let him give up without a fight. "Giving up is not in your nature, Elijah," she reminded him, counting to three with her fingers so he'd know when to push off. "I know you're in a lot of pain, but you need to work with me so we can keep you alive somehow."

After getting Elijah up, Hayley slowly guided him to the bathroom.

"Careful," she said as they maneuvered him into the bathtub. "I'm going to go get the ice. You just get as comfortable as you can."

Hayley turned and exited the bathroom to get the trash can. She returned moments later, walking over and gently tilting the can to pour the ice over Elijah's body. A gasp tore from Elijah's throat as the ice made contact with his overly heated skin. Surprisingly, the ice did immediately made him feel a little bit better.

"Feeling better?" Hayley asked him, putting the can down and then searching the bathroom for a washcloth or a towel.

"Not much, but just enough for now," Elijah answered truthfully.

Opening the closet door, Hayley found what she was looking for. She grabbed a washcloth from the closet and then made her way over to the sink.

"That's better than not at all," Hayley replied, turning on the sink faucet and getting the washcloth wet. "I can only imagine the pain you're going through right now." She went back over to the bathtub and kneeled down next to it.

She surveyed the bite mark and her empty stomach turned. It was a bloody mess that looked a lot like a bite that a dog with rabies would've left behind. He was losing too much blood and in turn it was making him weaker along with the pain of the bite itself.

"Oh god," Hayley moaned as she bit her lower lip, drawing blood. "Elijah, I can't...I can't lose you," she whispered to him, gently dabbing the washcloth along his forehead. "There has to be a cure for this."

"Even if there is, I don't know we have enough time to figure it out," Elijah admitted, he hated being the barer of bad news but he wasn't sure there was any way around it.

Hayley shook her head frantically, refusing to start thinking negatively. "I can not lose you. I can't, Elijah," she reiterated. "I know I'm being selfish by saying that over and over again, but after everything we've both been through in the past few years...I think we both deserve to be able to be selfish for once."

"You may have a point about that," Elijah agreed after processing her words and thinking them over.

Hayley nodded her head. "I know I do," she replied. "I just wish we had both realized this before now."

Elijah reached over and placed his hand on top of hers. "Better late than never." He smiled a sad smile in her direction.

Placing the washcloth down on the side of the tub, Hayley placed he now free hand on top of his. "There has to be something that we can do," she spoke quietly, returning his sad smile.

Elijah opened his mouth to say something back, but didn't get the chance as a shockwave of pain tore through him. He chuckled darkly, the numbness of all the ice was suddenly already beginning to wear off due to him being a vampire and the pain was coming back stronger than before. "If I were a regular vampire then I'd ask you to just stake me now."

Hayley was about to scold him for how he was talking negatively and how he'd ruined the bittersweet moment they were in the midst of but she stopped herself before she did. Her eyes widened as a sudden thought came to her and the way to keep Elijah alive dawned on her.

"That's it!" she cried out, the first hint of hope making its way into her voice and coursing through her body.

Elijah looked at her with a confused, curious expression on his face.

"I can dagger you until I find a cure," she informed him of her sudden realization.

He thought over her words for a few moments before finally replying. "There's just one problem with that idea," Elijah choked out.

Hayley raised an eyebrow. "What would that be?"

"The daggers are back at the compound," he answered, shifting in the tub to get comfortable again.

Hayley was quiet for a moment or two. "Well, not exactly," she said under her breath.

Elijah glanced at her with a curious expression on his face. "What do you mean by not exactly?"

Hayley shrugged. "With everything that has been going on lately, I've been carrying one of them around with me," she answered, looking away. "You know, just in case," she added as an afterthought.

"It was smart of you to do that." Elijah smiled slightly. "It could work."

Hayley smiled back at him, full of hope.

"Go get it, I don't know how much longer I have before the venom takes over completely," Elijah admitted, feeling himself get weaker and weaker with every passing second.

Hayley heaved herself up off the floor. "Okay, be right back." She turned and quickly ran from the bathroom.

As she made her way to where she kept the dagger, Hayley allowed herself to cry out all the tears that she'd been keeping at bay. She felt utterly hopeless despite having some hope for keeping him from dying. She wouldn't lose him for good this way, but she'd still lose him and she had no clue for how long. With only her being left standing after this, she would have to search for a cure by herself. Not to mention, she'd be raising her daughter as a single mother while doing so. Her worst fear was coming true now, she was going to be all alone and there was nothing she could do to stop that from happening...not in the present, anyways.

 **~NoMatterWhatItTakes~**

Wiping any trace of tears from her eyes and face, Hayley returned to the bathroom with the dagger in hand. She had to do this, but she didn't want to have to do this. It was the only choice she had right now and if she didn't choose to go through with it the consequences would be so much worse and more dire. She would do this because she had to, because it was the only way to make sure there was hope for the future. It was the only way she wouldn't lose Elijah and a big part of herself along with him for good.

"I don't know if I can do this," Hayley admitted out loud, entering the bathroom.

Elijah glanced up at her. "No pressure, Hayley. You don't have to do this if you don't want to."

"No, I want to," she said, her tone full of assurance that she meant it. "It's the only way to make sure you don't die. It's just..." she trailed off, kneeling back down next to the tub. "What about Hope?" she asked, staring down at the floor. "I don't know if I can raise her on my own," she admitted her fears to him with a shaky voice. "What if I'm not good at being a single mother?"

Elijah tsked. "Have more faith in yourself. You are a great mother, Hope is lucky to have you as her mother," Elijah assured her, reaching up to place a hand on her cheek in a feather like touch. "I believe in you, you should believe in yourself as well."

Hayley bit her lower lip, looking back up at him. "Thank you for saying that."

"Just stating the truth." He smiled at her. "Now let's get this over with, there is no more time to waste."

Fresh tears suddenly filled Hayley's eyes and spilled out of them.

Elijah reached out and grabbed the hand that Hayley was holding the dagger in, bringing it up to his chest slowly until the dagger point was resting right above his chest where his heart was.

Reaching up with his free hand and gently wiping her tears away, Elijah smiled before speaking those three words to her for the first time ever. "I love you."

Hayley had waited so long to hear those three words come out of Elijah's mouth, and now she finally had. Those words spoken on his lips were unlike any words she'd ever heard anyone else say to her before.

"I love you, too, Elijah. I always will," she whispered, tears streaming down her cheeks now despite Elijah wiping the others away.

She leaned forward, meeting Elijah in the middle, their lips touching gently.

Distracted by their kiss, Hayley didn't notice Elijah slowly guiding her hand and the dagger until it had already been pushed into his chest with a gasp escaping him before the dagger neutralized him.

At that point, Hayley lost all control over herself and her tears all fell uncontrollably. Her eyes were blurry and loud inhumane sounds were escaping her. That was by far the worst thing she'd ever had to do or witness. She felt as if a part of her was neutralized right along with him.

"I won't lose you," Hayley gasped, wiping frantically at her tears.

She was adamant on doing whatever it took to not lose him for good.

"I can't and I won't lose you," she promised Elijah as she leaned over his now daggered body. "I will find a cure to save you, I promise."

No matter how long it would take her, she would find a cure. She would find a cure that would allow her and Elijah to take their rightful places next to each other for the rest of eternity. No one could stop her.

* * *

 _ **Thoughts?**_


End file.
